Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A hearing will continue into next
month on the United Auto Workers’s complaint that Ford Motor Co.
salaried employees didn’t sacrifice equally with hourly
employees to help the company survive, the union said today.

An independent arbitrator will take testimony from
additional witnesses in December after hearing three days of
testimony this month, the UAW Ford Department said in a posting
on its Facebook page. More than 35,000 Ford workers, who gave up
pay increases and bonuses, signed the grievance last year after
the company reinstated raises, tuition assistance and 401(k)
matches for white-collar employees.

“The depth and gravity of questioning and testimony,
particularly from our witnesses has taken longer than
anticipated,” the union said in its post. “We are confident
that we have presented a strong case to the arbitrator regarding
the lack of equality concerning Ford Motor Company’s
reinstatement of bonuses to the executives and salary employees
only.”

The arbitrator has not scheduled a date for the next
hearing, the union said. The arbitrator “should make his ruling
within 90 days” of the conclusion of the hearing, the post
said.

Ford’s 40,600 hourly U.S. workers voted 63 percent in favor
of a new four-year contract with Ford in October. Ford pledged
12,000 new jobs, $6.2 billion in factory upgrades, and bonus and
profit-sharing payments this year that total as much as $10,000
per worker.

The accord did not include raises for senior workers or
restore cost-of-living pay increases hourly employees gave up to
help Ford survive after it lost $30.1 billion from 2006 through
2008.